Modern military operation now require real time two way digital video communication. A video codec (coder, decoder) converts video images into digital signals and vice versa. Present video codecs are large, power hungry, and complex. Such codecs are used at video conferencing facilities and are typically housed in a controlled environment of an office building. Large and complex devices are both inappropriate and virtually useless for military operations, especially combat operations. Accordingly, there is a need for a compact and efficient codec to transmit real time color video with audio over existing tactical communication links, in particular radio frequency (rf) links.